Delta Air Lines Announces December Quarter and Full Year 2016 Profit

- December quarter 2016 GAAP pre-tax income of $952 million, net income of $622 million and earnings per diluted share of $0.84- December quarter 2016 adjusted pre-tax income1 of $923 million, adjusted net income of $604 million and adjusted earnings per diluted share of $0.82- Full year 2016 GAAP pre-tax income of $6.6 billion and adjusted pre-tax income of $6.1 billion, resulting in $1.1 billion profit sharing for Delta people- Full year 2016 operating cash flow of $7.2 billion and $3.8 billion free cash flow used in part for $3.1 billion of dividends and share repurchases

ATLANTA, Jan. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported financial results for the December quarter and full year 2016. Highlights of those results, including both GAAP and adjusted metrics, are below and incorporated here.

Adjusted pre-tax income for the December 2016 quarter was $923 million, a $524 million decrease from the December 2015 quarter, primarily driven by the new pilot agreement. For the full year, adjusted pre-tax income increased 4 percent year over year to $6.1 billion.

"Delta had a year of record-breaking performance in 2016 – financially, operationally and for our customers – and it's an honor to recognize our employees' efforts this year with over $1 billion in profit sharing," said Ed Bastian, Delta's chief executive officer. "As we move into 2017, we are seeing our unit revenues turn positive which should return the company to margin expansion by the back half of the year. This will allow us to produce the solid returns and cash flows that investors rely upon from Delta."

Revenue Environment

Delta's operating revenue for the December quarter was down $44 million versus prior year. Passenger unit revenues declined 2.7 percent on a 0.9 percent increase in capacity.

"Delta's commercial strategies and capacity actions combined with improving demand continue to drive benefit as we transition back into sustained positive unit revenues. For the March quarter, we expect a unit revenue increase of flat to up 2 percent, stemming the declines that have been ongoing for two years," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's president. "We will remain conservative and keep our capacity growth in check until we see a further firming of these revenue trends in the near-term and longer-term, a return to our 17-19 percent operating margin target."

Increase (Decrease)

4Q16 versus 4Q15

Change

Unit

Passenger Revenue

4Q16 ($M)

YoY

Revenue

Yield

Capacity

Mainline

4,385

0.4 %

(2.8) %

(3.1) %

3.3 %

Regional

1,399

(1.6) %

(1.8) %

(2.4) %

0.1 %

Total Domestic

5,784

(0.1) %

(2.7) %

(3.1) %

2.7 %

Atlantic

1,084

(6.8) %

(6.0) %

(2.4) %

(0.8) %

Pacific

559

(14.4) %

(8.8) %

(8.6) %

(6.1) %

Latin America

547

5.0 %

5.2 %

1.2 %

(0.1) %

Total Passenger

7,974

(1.9) %

(2.7) %

(2.7) %

0.9 %

Cargo Revenue

174

(9.8) %

Other Revenue

1,310

10.6 %

Total Revenue

9,458

(0.5) %

March 2017 Quarter Guidance

For the March quarter, Delta is expecting pressures on margins as the pace of change in unit revenue will not match the cost impact of higher fuel prices and employee wage increases. This margin pressure is likely to peak in the March quarter, and the company expects margins to expand beginning in the second half of the year.

1Q17 Forecast

Operating margin*

11% - 13%

Passenger unit revenue (compared to 1Q16)

Up 0% - 2%

Fuel price, including taxes and refinery impact*

$1.68 - $1.73

CASM – Ex including profit sharing (compared to 1Q16)*

Up 5% - 7%

System Capacity (compared to 1Q16)

Down 0% - 1%

*See note A for information about reconciliation of these projected non-GAAP financial measures

Cost Performance

Adjusted fuel expense2 declined $240 million compared to the same period in 2015, as 12 percent higher market prices were offset by prior year hedge losses. Delta's adjusted fuel price per gallon for the December quarter was $1.60.

CASM-Ex3 including profit sharing increased 10.6 percent for the December 2016 quarter compared to the prior year period primarily driven by the impact of the new pilot agreement ratified on December 1, 2016 with retroactive effect to January 1, 2016. Results for the December quarter include the full 2016 impact of the new contract totaling $475 million of expense, of which $380 million relates to the first three quarters of the year.

Non-operating expense declined $116 million for the quarter due to a $75 million loss in prior year for the write-off of Venezuela currency and $10 million of lower interest expense from Delta's debt reduction initiatives.

"Delta's cost and capital discipline has allowed us to consistently invest in our people and the customer experience, and do so in a way that keeps our unit cost growth manageable over time and generates sufficient cash flow for debt reduction and shareholder returns," said Paul Jacobson, Delta's chief financial officer. "We'll continue to take this balanced approach – investing across the business to drive future earnings growth, further strengthening our investment grade balance sheet, and returning cash to our owners – as we drive sustainability for the long term."

Cash Flow, Shareholder Returns, and Adjusted Net Debt

Delta generated $1.2 billion of adjusted operating cash flow and $640 million of free cash flow during the quarter. The company used this strong cash generation to invest $600 million into the business for aircraft modifications, facilities upgrades and technology improvements.

For the December quarter, the company returned $449 million to shareholders, comprised of $149 million of dividends and $300 million of share repurchases. Delta returned $3.1 billion to its owners in 2016 through dividends and share repurchases.

Adjusted net debt4 at the end of the quarter stood at $6.1 billion, a $500 million reduction compared to the end of 2015.

Note A to the attached Consolidated Statements of Operations provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release to the comparable GAAP metric and provides the reasons management uses those measures.

(2)

Adjusted fuel expense reflects, among other things, the impact of mark-to-market ("MTM") adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. See Note A for a reconciliation of adjusted fuel expense and average fuel price per gallon to the comparable GAAP metric.

(3)

CASM - Ex, including profit sharing: In addition to fuel expense, Delta believes adjusting for certain other expenses is helpful to investors because other expenses are not related to the generation of a seat mile. These expenses include aircraft maintenance and staffing services Delta provides to third parties, Delta's vacation wholesale operations and refinery cost of sales to third parties. The amounts excluded were $338 million and $213 million for the December 2016 and December 2015 quarters, respectively and $1.2 billion for both years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015. Management believes this methodology provides a more consistent and comparable reflection of Delta's airline operations.

(4)

Adjusted net debt includes $38 million and $119 million as of December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively, of hedge margin receivable, which is cash that we have posted with counterparties as hedge margin. See Note A for additional information about our calculation of adjusted net debt.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this investor update that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections and strategies reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the effects of terrorist attacks or geopolitical conflict; the cost of aircraft fuel; the impact of rebalancing our hedge portfolio, recording mark-to-market adjustments or posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the availability of aircraft fuel; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements will have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; interruptions or disruptions in service at one of our hub or gateway airports; disruptions or security breaches of our information technology infrastructure; our dependence on technology in our operations; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third party regional carriers; failure or inability of insurance to cover a significant liability at Monroe's Trainer refinery; the impact of environmental regulation on the Trainer refinery, including costs related to renewable fuel standard regulations; our ability to retain management and key employees; competitive conditions in the airline industry; the effects of extensive government regulation on our business; the sensitivity of the airline industry to prolonged periods of stagnant or weak economic conditions, including the effects of Brexit; and the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses.

Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2016. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of January 12, 2017, and which we have no current intention to update.

Note A: The following tables show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures. The reasons Delta uses these measures are described below.

Delta sometimes uses information ("non-GAAP financial measures") that is derived from the Consolidated Financial Statements, but that is not presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, non-GAAP financial measures may be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results. The tables below show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Forward Looking Projections. Delta does not reconcile forward looking non-GAAP financial measures because MTM adjustments and settlements will not be known until the end of the period and could be significant.

Pre-Tax Income and Net Income, adjusted. We adjust for the following items to determine pre-tax income and net income, adjusted, for the reasons described below:

Mark-to-Market ("MTM") adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. Adjusting for these items allows investors to better understand and analyze our core operational performance in the periods shown.

Restructuring and other. Because of the variability in restructuring and other, the adjustment for this item is helpful to investors to analyze the company's recurring core performance in the periods shown.

Virgin Atlantic MTM adjustments. We record our proportionate share of earnings from our equity investment in Virgin Atlantic in non-operating expense. We adjust for Virgin Atlantic's MTM adjustments to allow investors to better understand and analyze the company's core financial performance in the periods shown.

Income tax. We included the income tax effect of adjustments when presenting net income, adjusted. We believe that presenting the income tax effect of adjustments allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core financial performance in the periods shown.

Operating Cash Flow, adjusted. We adjusted operating cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for capital expenditures, debt service or general corporate initiatives. Adjustments include:

Hedge deferrals. During the March 2015 quarter, we effectively deferred settlement of a portion of our fuel hedge portfolio by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2015 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2016. During the March 2016 quarter, we further deferred settlement of a portion of our hedge portfolio until 2017 by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2016 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2017. Operating cash flow is adjusted to include the impact of these deferral transactions in order to allow investors to better understand the net impact of hedging activities in the periods shown.

Hedge margin and other. Operating cash flow is adjusted for hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the periods shown.

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP)

$ 1,125

$ 1,479

Adjustments:

Hedge deferrals

75

230

Hedge margin and other

17

(268)

Net cash provided by operating activities, adjusted

$ 1,217

$ 1,441

Year Ended

Year Ended

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP)

$ 7,205

$ 7,927

Adjustments:

Hedge deferrals

(159)

358

Hedge margin and other

(92)

(856)

Net cash provided by operating activities, adjusted

$ 6,954

$ 7,429

Operating Cash Flow, adjusted. We adjusted operating cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for capital expenditures, debt service or general corporate initiatives. Adjustments include:

Hedge deferrals. During the March 2015 quarter, we effectively deferred settlement of a portion of our fuel hedge portfolio by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2015 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2016. During the March 2016 quarter, we further deferred settlement of a portion of our hedge portfolio until 2017 by entering into transactions that, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2016 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2017. Operating cash flow is adjusted to include the impact of these deferral transactions in order to allow investors to better understand the net impact of hedging activities in the periods shown.

Hedge margin and other. Operating cash flow is adjusted for hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the periods shown.

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP)

$ 1,125

$ 1,479

Adjustments:

Hedge deferrals

75

230

Hedge margin and other

17

(268)

Net cash provided by operating activities, adjusted

$ 1,217

$ 1,441

Year Ended

Year Ended

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Net cash provided by operating activities (GAAP)

$ 7,205

$ 7,927

Adjustments:

Hedge deferrals

(159)

358

Hedge margin and other

(92)

(856)

Net cash provided by operating activities, adjusted

$ 6,954

$ 7,429

Free Cash Flow. We present free cash flow because management believes this metric is helpful to investors to evaluate the company's ability to generate cash that is available for use for debt service or general corporate initiatives. Adjustments include:

Hedge deferrals. During the March 2016 quarter, we entered into transactions to defer settlement of a portion of our hedge portfolio until 2017. These deferral transactions, excluding market movements from the date of inception, would provide approximately $300 million in cash receipts during the second half of 2016 and require approximately $300 million in cash payments in 2017. Free cash flow is adjusted to include these deferral transactions in order to allow investors to better understand the net impact of hedging activities in the period shown.

Hedge margin and other. Free cash flow is adjusted for hedge margin as we believe this adjustment removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and allows investors to better understand and analyze the company's core operational performance in the periods shown.

Net purchases of short-term investments and other investing. Net purchases of short term investments represent the net purchase and sale activity of investments and marketable securities in the period, including gains and losses. We adjust free cash flow for this activity, net, to provide investors a better understanding of the company's free cash flow position core to operations.

Three Months Ended

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

Net cash provided by operating activities

$ 1,125

Net cash provided by investing activities

445

Adjustments:

Hedge deferrals

75

Hedge margin and other

17

Net purchases of short-term investments and other investing

(1,022)

Total free cash flow

$ 640

Year Ended

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

Net cash provided by operating activities

$ 7,205

Net cash used in investing activities

(2,155)

Adjustments:

Hedge deferrals

(159)

Hedge margin and other

(92)

Net purchases of short-term investments and other investing

(967)

Total free cash flow

$ 3,832

Fuel expense, adjusted and Average fuel price per gallon, adjusted. The tables below show the components of fuel expense, including the impact of the refinery segment and hedging on fuel expense and average price per gallon. We then adjust for MTM adjustments and settlements for the reason described below:

MTM adjustments and settlements. MTM adjustments are defined as fair value changes recorded in periods other than the settlement period. Such fair value changes are not necessarily indicative of the actual settlement value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period. Settlements represent cash received or paid on hedge contracts settled during the period. These items adjust fuel expense to show the economic impact of hedging, including cash received or paid on hedge contracts during the period. Adjusting for these items allows investors to better understand and analyze our core operational performance in the periods shown.

Consolidated:

Average Price Per Gallon

Three Months Ended

Three Months Ended

December 31,

December 31,

(in millions, except per gallon data)

2016

2015

2016

2015

Fuel purchase cost

$ 1,461

$ 1,415

$ 1.56

$ 1.50

Airline segment fuel hedge gains

(11)

245

(0.01)

0.26

Refinery segment impact

42

(8)

0.04

(0.01)

Total fuel expense

$ 1,492

$ 1,652

$ 1.59

$ 1.75

MTM adjustments and settlements

11

91

0.01

0.10

Total fuel expense, adjusted

$ 1,503

$ 1,743

$ 1.60

$ 1.85

Change year-over-year

$ (240)

Year Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

December 31,

(in millions, except per gallon data)

2016

2015

2016

2015

Fuel purchase cost

$ 5,579

$ 6,934

$ 1.39

$ 1.74

Airline segment fuel hedge gains

281

935

0.07

0.23

Refinery segment impact

125

(290)

0.03

(0.07)

Total fuel expense

$ 5,985

$ 7,579

$ 1.49

$ 1.90

MTM adjustments and settlements

450

1,301

0.11

0.33

Total fuel expense, adjusted

$ 6,435

$ 8,880

$ 1.60

$ 2.23

Mainline:

Three Months Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

December 31,

2016

2015

2016

2015

Mainline average price per gallon

$ 1.58

$ 1.80

$ 1.50

$ 1.93

MTM adjustments and settlements

0.02

0.11

0.13

0.38

Mainline average price per gallon, adjusted

$ 1.60

$ 1.91

$ 1.63

$ 2.31

Non-Fuel Unit Cost or Cost per Available Seat Mile, Including Profit Sharing ("CASM-Ex"). We adjust CASM for the following items to determine CASM-Ex, including profit sharing for the reasons described below:

Restructuring and other. Because of the variability in restructuring and other, the adjustment for this item is helpful to investors to analyze our recurring core performance in the periods shown.

Other expenses. Other expenses include aircraft maintenance and staffing services we provide to third parties, our vacation wholesale operations, and refinery cost of sales to third parties. Because these businesses are not related to the generation of a seat mile, we adjust for the costs related to these sales to provide a more meaningful comparison of the costs of our airline operations to the rest of the airline industry.

Consolidated CASM-Ex:

Three Months Ended

Year Ended

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

CASM (cents)

14.37

13.38

12.98

13.33

Adjusted for:

Aircraft fuel and related taxes

(2.54)

(2.84)

(2.38)

(3.07)

Restructuring and other

-

-

-

(0.01)

Other expenses

(0.58)

(0.37)

(0.47)

(0.48)

CASM-Ex

11.25

10.17

10.13

9.77

Year-over-year change

10.6 %

Mainline CASM-Ex:

Three Months Ended

Year Ended

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Mainline CASM (cents)

14.06

12.97

12.51

12.84

Adjusted for:

Aircraft fuel and related taxes

(2.40)

(2.78)

(2.27)

(2.97)

Other expenses

(0.58)

(0.32)

(0.49)

(0.46)

Mainline CASM-Ex

11.08

9.87

9.75

9.41

Adjusted Net Debt. Delta uses adjusted total debt, including aircraft rent, in addition to long-term adjusted debt and capital leases, to present estimated financial obligations. Delta reduces adjusted debt by cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, and hedge margin receivable, resulting in adjusted net debt, to present the amount of assets needed to satisfy the debt. Management believes this metric is helpful to investors in assessing the company's overall debt profile. Management has reduced adjusted debt by the amount of hedge margin receivable, which reflects cash posted to counterparties, as we believe this removes the impact of current market volatility on our unsettled hedges and is a better representation of the continued progress we have made on our debt initiatives.

(in millions)

December 31, 2016

December 31, 2015

Debt and capital lease obligations

$ 7,332

$ 8,329

Plus: unamortized discount, net and debt issuance costs

104

152

Adjusted debt and capital lease obligations

7,436

8,481

Plus: 7x last twelve months' aircraft rent

1,995

1,750

Adjusted total debt

9,431

10,231

Less: cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments

(3,249)

(3,437)

Less: hedge margin receivable

(38)

(119)

Adjusted net debt

$ 6,144

$ 6,675

Capital Expenditures, net. Capital expenditures, net is adjusted for proceeds for sales of E190 aircraft because management believes investors should be informed that these proceeds effectively offset the cash paid for these aircraft earlier in the year. This provides a more meaningful measure of cash outflows for capital expenditures.